I got my start in model railroading the same as all the other little boys in the 50's with the Christmas train set. But it wasn't long until I was begging my dad to leave the trains up all year. About the same time my parents also noted I was always drawing and painting. After excelling at art, thanks to some great middle and high school teachers, I was off to a boring year at college and then a 10 year run as Set Designer for educational television. During those 10 years I started a commercial sign business. After 30 sucessful years running my sign shop my wife and I semi-retired to Vermont where I continue working in the sign biz for Dave Couch Signs in Stowe.
During all those years the trains were never far away. Layouts came and went and when I finally arrived in Vermont I built my "dream" layout in the second story of our preserved 1820's barn. The layout occupies an 18' x 29' room built within the existing exterior walls of the barn.
The layout is The Mid Atlantic &
New England, or the MANE. I rec
eived some Western Maryland
equipment from a dear friend who
passed away and added that to
my CV and other New England
railroad booty and the MANE was
born.
As I built my railroad(s) I always
reached for the Gatorfoam as my
modeling substrate. I immediately
started using it for bases and ex-
panded from there to subroadbed,
backdrops and module surfaces.
I knew from using it in the sign
business it held up extremely well,
machined great and took paint and
stains without warping. What other
product could compare?